The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-09
A DETECTIVES STORIES.
THE DIFFICULTY CORPORATIONS
HAVE IN GETTING JUSTICE

This Country Late National League
Arrivals.
NEW YoRx. Oct s.-A large. thick-se-
man. whose dress and barring indicated
great prosperity. sa- a: 4 table n TIE Nor
ton House the Oeher evening Re doss1
LOOK il. but he Is a ie-ec<5ve the ve-y an
titbesis in appeara1c,s q tn gau1t. keen
eyed. reticeat individual that TIE average
writer make TIE sgp.-al effective q hls
story. Re taxed freely. u: never inils-
creetly.
How about that case Of a ORGANIZED
atte1lut here IN EeE To-E % b.ackInal q
prominent Boston mann was asked o. the
detective
ITS a great cav said De-. There has
been nothing much more Imports NJ slnce
the tine tzt that fellow got hls life InsllT ID
with nearly every company IN View / ork,
and then uretsnaiei 70 lie a. q little country
town near here. De had secured a corIse
and left Il IN hls nom at the hotel Il was
regularly cssrtifissI that the corpse was that
Of the mar who had taken the room, and his
relatives bore the body away. The fellow,
however was indiscreet enough when be
had gone away 70 write to his giTl--it is this
writing % his girl that usually leads to the
dissection OF q crIninal-and by means Ot
those letters we traced the man TO South
America, where he now IS
The most Troublesome caSes Detectives
have. who work for corporations, are thOss
known a. accident suits. There are now
PENDING more than 600 suits fOT damages
against the elevated roads Of New York.
Here is a sample: One day labOrer was
going to work, and while passing under the
Third avenue elevated road careless work
man on the latter line let piece Of timber
fall and nit him on the head and shoulder.
He got a scalp wound and a bruise Of the
shoulder, but sustained no serious injury.
A lawyer got hold Of him and persuaded
him 10 bring suit against the company Tor
$4,000 damages. Contrary To the lawyer 5
instructions, he went out on the street to
enjoy his leisure His counselor found him
and hustled him up into the garnet over a
saloon, and practically made him prisoner.
We found out where he was and ! set out
10 get at him. / went into the saloon under
his lodgings one night, drank vile whisky
until along toward morning, pretended 70
be very drunk and was carried into an
upper room directly under the apartments
occupied by the claimant When my com
panions Of the saloon had left me / climbed
up a ladder, forced open a trap door and
found the man | was after. / was disguised
as a sea captain, and the man, not suspect
ing my identity, told me how and why he
10 descend with me down the fire escape,
promising 10 take him to sea with me and
pay him literally. Once outside | con
Quoted him TO the offices Of the railroad
company. and there he was offered 500 if
he would sign a release from all claim
against the company. He readily gave his
signature to the document and went home
happy If he had brought suit he might
have gotten nearly all that was demanded
In his action
"But bow about the Matchmaking case"
persisted the listener.
,,Weil get at that by and by" said the
detective. Let me tell you more about ac-
cident suits One night man was going
home along Fifty-sec0nd street and fell part
way through the hatchway in front Of a
house owned by a woman Of comparatively
modest means. He went home and at once
instituted proceedings for heavy damages,
claiming that he mad been totally paralyzed
in his lower limbs by the accident | was
employed by the defendant 10 ferret out the
case. / hired a physician to examine the
man. He turned the battery on him and
secured ample evidence that he was smu-
lating paralysis. / hired a room directly
opposite that occupied by the alleged invalid
and watched his movements with field
glass. saw him walking about his room and
50 testified at the trial The doctor cOrrobo-
rated my story, but the man had employed
Attendants 70 carry him into the court room
and he acted his part 50 well that in spite Of
all the evidence we adduced the plaintiff
got s. 800 damages. ] promised to prove
to the defendant that the suit was a fraud
or 70 demand no pay for my services. In or
der TO convince her ] arranged that a ser
want girl should 20 10 work IN apartments
adjoining those occupied by the claimant.
She discovered that two days after the trial
he was able TO wax down stairs and get his
beer When mad proved this / accepted
the stipulated fee for my services"
Let me remind you that you haven't
told me yet about the blackmailing case"
said the detectives listener.
Pause moment" responded the detec-
tive ITO prove to you that a corporation
has no chance with the average jury, let Inc
tell YOU a case that once occurred in Detroit.
A man had been struck by Michigan Cen
trail locomotive and injured. He brought
suit, claiming that the engineer had not
sounded his bell as a warning while the en-
gineer averred that the bell had been con-
SANITY rung. The claimant won in the
lower court and the case was taken up to
a higher tribunal The Superintendent Of
the road ther determined to try an expert
ment. He boarded an engine going down
the line through the city, and stood in the
cab with disinterested witness He rang
the bell as fast as possible, and saw 10 it
that the locomotive made only six miles an
hour. Officers of the company were
stationed at several of the crossings and
they summoned witnesses who had seen the
engine 20 by. OF large number of these
only three swore that the locomotives
bell was ringing. Some testified that
the engine was going forty miles an
hour and none of them fixed the rate of
speed at less than fifteen miles an hour
They all, no doubt, intended to be sincere,
/. but the case illustrated the unreliability of
the ordinary witness against a corporation.
The company offered this evidence, but it
was defeated, nevertheless. You may not
be friend of the corporations, but it may
interest you to know that the Lake Shore
road was defrauded of more than $3.50, 900
in fraudulent claims for damages on ac-
count Of the Ashtabula disaster. You know
many of the bodies were so completely con-
sumed there that not trace was left Of
them. The false claimants set up fraudu-
lent claims and the company, unable at
the time TO resist without occasioning too
much public Indignation, compromised the
suits, but its claim agent discovered later
that they were groundless."
Now please tell me about the black
mailing case" insisted the listener.
The detective smiled, and said by waY of
evasion: 'Do you know that New York is
the most difficult city in the world for a
detective to shadow a mani The elevated
roads, for one thing, make it so. You start
out TO follow a man. You must be careful
not to let him see you. He takes train on